Electric Vehicles: Miles Per Gallon vs. Miles Per KwH

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I have dang near zero experience with EVs nor any acquaintances that do.  I don't know how many miles per kilowatt-hour they deliver in real life.  Not factory ratings, not EPA-type ratings, and I'm not asking about the cost of the power.

When my truck is low on gas I put in XX gallons, it's been yy miles since I last filled it, and therefore my truck got zz miles per gallon.

How many miles per kWh do YOU get with your EV?

[sabat]

Hey Jon, there are many way to convey it, no gold standard unfortunately.  I have a Tesla Model 3 Performance, and I've averaged 250 Wh / mile over the last 2 years / 25K miles. This is with me using all 480 ft-lbs of torque when I need to beat the yellow light, or make the kids squeal. cheers, Dean

Edit: it works about to roughly 1/3 of what I'd spend on gas. Electricity is cheap in GA.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Is that an overall average - trips, in-town, etc?  If so - thanks.  What's the "pump" price for the energy?  My only example so far was 48 cents/kwh at Smith's in West Wendover.   

[PorkPie]

Jon,

what your electric car use for 100 km (62 miles) and what you have to charge are two different things....

1. a normal regular size e-car will need about 17 kwh....in the wintertime it will be a lot more....maybe 20 kwh....per 62 miles

2. when you charge your battery...the amount is much higher than that what finally end up in the battery.....

3. as a example....your battery got a capacity of 70 kwh....to charge them it will be around 100 kwh....the 30 kwh get lost during the charge

4. standing time, weather depense, day time or night....all that has an effect of your use

5. in other words.....if the brand says you can go with 70 kwh 250 miles....get 30 percent off of that distance....it get lost otherwise in the car....and depends on like
   wintertime it will more than 30 percent


6. you have to be aware, that from a 70 kwh battery, only 56 kwh can be use....if you go under 20 percent capacity left over you risk to damage the battery

7. the most brands got an automatic shut off when the battery is at 15 percent left over

8. also, when you charge the battery, actually you charge maximum 56 kwh with the 100 kwh......

9. in other words....from the 56 kwh which finally you got to use you can go 175 miles....which would means 17.5 kwh per 62 miles

10. this 17,5 kwh are in fact 32 kwh you had charge......

11. adding the lost otherwise increase this 32 kwh     

[sabat]

Yep, it varies a lot with season, driving terrain, tire pressure, weight of right foot, etc. I gave you the 2-year average to account for most of this. North Georgia is in the foothills, so not flat, but not the Rockies. I take long road trips (Florida, NC, Chicago) 2-3 times per year.

Electricity is around 14 cents per kW here at my house, where I do all my charging (24 amp) unless I'm out of state. Tesla Supercharging is about 60 cents, but way faster (150-300 amp).

[edinlr]

So what does it cost to fully charge at a Tesla charger?  I am mildly interested in the new electric Ram p/u, but have a concern for my 1682 mile drives to Bonneville and don't really care to have 60 minute pit stops every few hours.  I can get about about 400 miles on a fill up on my current truck with a trailer, so a 600 mile day requires stops, but not long ones.  I had heard that the commercial chargers along the road my cost a huge amount compared even to a gasoline fill up, just curious.

[noboD]

Maybe a less confusing question would be what is the cost per 10,000 miles for both.

[bubruins]

5800 miles average for me with a Chevy bolt is 4.6kwh/mi. I save about $130/mo in the difference between gas and electric bill.

For a $20k brand new car in 2023 (after tax rebate) it's incredible value. It'll be hard to ever go back to a gas daily driver, but expect it'll be the year 2043 before I can find enough EV value to replace the 7.3l diesel tow rig.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Dean uses 250 watt-hours to go one mile.  bubruins uses 4,600 watt-hours to go one mile.

Hunh?  Maybe, maybe not.  Typo, anyone?


Thomas et al:  I well understand that each and every motorised vehicle, no matter what kind of energy moves it, will have many various costs of use and operation beyond the headline "miles per unit of energy" price,  be they to buy oil changes or pay for electrical losses and other inefficiencies in the charging system.

Dean's original response was stripped of consideration of those costs, and that's what I wanted.  Long term, to even out high-economy mellow cruises and burnouts.  A two year total?  Great!!   5,800 miles?  Dandy.  I'd like more inputs from others, please, so I can get some kind of baseline number in my head.  That's all I really want.

I'm interested in EVs, of course, but the available fleet and infrastructure around here is still pretty sparse.  If I'm gonna learn stuff I might as well ask youse guys.  Hey, you can never tell.  Somebody besides me might be interested, too.

Thanks.

[Stainless1]

Jon... from what I can tell from folks I know with electric vehicles is they are great around town and local trips.  I have friends that drive their EV from Denver to Oklahoma and Chicago... The trip that takes me 7-8 hours here to Denver takes them 12-13.  Cross country takes lots of planning.  Some chargers are faster, some will charge 100 miles an hour, some will charge 200 miles an hour.  For them it is all about how far the next charge station is and don't run the battery too low.  The window... 20-80% works... don't let it go below 20... charge to at least 80. 
It can be a slow process to drive long distance in an EV... and if you plan to run 300 of the 340 miles the manufacturer says the range is, hope to hell the place you plan to charge is working... and not occupied by someone else who plugged in and went to lunch.  Oh, the air-conditioner slows down your charge... and it Kansas summer, you may want to sit in the car with the air on while your fill er up.   

[PorkPie]

Jon,

I'm aware that my note was a lot of mathematics....but it comes from someone who knows...

Dean's calculation is right     0,25 kw x 62 miles = 15,5 kw per 62 miles....for the small Tesla he is driving is that the number base on the experience with so cars


I wrote my math's for you, that you got a honest calculation for the real amount of electicifity you need to go from A to B.....and base on that how much it will cost...
as Dean wrote right....the cheapest is your own power supply at home....on the road it goes very expensive.....and as Stainless wrote....for long distance drives you have to make your
plan in advance for the necessary stops....





something other is the live and capacity of the battery...

you all got a smartphone....and if you check the capacity of the phone battery...you will figure out that after a while the capacity goes more and more down....most batteries are be down
to 80 percent after four years depends how properly the charging was done

Charging the battery is very important.....Dean got a very slow charging speed....it's actually very good for his car....in this way the battery lives much longer and holds a higher capacity for a longer time....it's protect/extent the live span of the battery

every quick charging shorten this live span.....that's the reason why the brands allowed only two quick charges the months that you keep your warrenty on the battery....

in the other hand...if the capacity is down to 80 percent you only got 60 percent capacity for the drive....means 25 percent less to the beginning....and with the less you have to charge more often

Stainless had it right....keep the charging between 20 (base on our experience 25 is better) and 80 percent.....and it extend the live span of the battery.....only charge the battery than up to
100 percent when you know you go directly after the charging on a long trip.....



be aware, the most batteries will be down latest after six years and the battery is the most expensive part in the car

if you live in an area like Jon, far north, the life span of the battery will be shorter due to the cold weather

if you think now about the safety of warrenty for your battery.....well....in your manual the brands shows more then 100 positions where you can lost your warranty if you not taking care...



going cross country....Stainless wrote 12-13 instead of 7-8 hours.....well....if this guy do it in that time he is very lucky....the experience shows that normally 2+ times more than the time you need with a regular gas/diesel car is the real number

also, cross country means, high speed over a longer distance.....a electric car is opposite to a gas car....the gas car needs in town more gas than on the highway....the electric car needs a lot more electric power on the highway....it can be very quick twice on power depends on how fast and where you drive.....this shorten the distance, going cross country, between the charging places


by the way, Dean lives in an area which is very well for a electric car.....this has something to do with the temperature window where the battery feels well.....!!!!!...yes, there is a temperature window.....only in this window the battery can be proper charged and used....outside of this window it hurts the battery and it needs a lot of electric power to keep the battery inside this window
means....cooling down via air condition unit in the summer heat and heating with a high voltage heater.....and all that increase the amount you have to charge.....see my math in the earlier note


Yes, Jon, I know that your question was a little bit different....so read the first part and forget the rest....

[bubruins]

I got it backwards. 4.6mi/kwh. Bolt has 65kwh and goes almost 300mi with my driving style and average use. I just use the middle 60% of the charge to preserve the battery long term and charge about once a week to 80% of capacity and try to recharge at about 20%.

[MAYOMAN]

The old saying ?horses for courses? applies to the current EV offerings. My lifestyle seems optimal for current EVs. I drive 1,000 miles per month. I live in an exurban area, largely county roads, flat with rolling hills on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, Alabama. Traffic in the local cities is light. 
I am retired and don?t commute, rarely on the I-roads. I charge at home at 240VAC with a level 2 system at $0.14 per kWh. The climate is sub-tropical ? mild winters with light freezes, and summers 90F days and 75F nights.
I have the 2020 Nissan Leaf SV with 40 kWh battery, mileage is 111MPGe combined. The Nissan comparable ICE model is the 2020 Murano, at 23MPG combined. Full home battery charge is less than 6 hours at 240VAC and a 149 miles range.
Routine maintenance, per Consumer Reports for the EV is 50% less than the ICE. I paid $25,000 cash with a $4,000 trade (2014 Leaf). So far, I believe I am a winner. Oh yes, I have a 2020 Dodge minivan for long trips or hauling stuff. Just buying $35 gasoline per month, typically. I am a happy EV camper. Works for me.

[manta22]

I once owned a Prius for a while. Nice car but it was a hybrid, not a full EV. My daily driver now is a 2004 Dodge 3500 long bed pickup with a 5.9L Cummins common-rail diesel. Without towing the race car trailer, I get 24.1mpg overall and a full tank gives me a 670 mile range. I just filled the tank this afternoon at $4.69/ gal. Hauling a trailer kills the range of an EV; so does running the heater or air-conditioning. Here in southern AZ, in spring & fall it is not uncommon to drive in the morning with the heater on and then in the afternoon turn on the A/C. Our climate is not conducive to EVs year 'round. Of course, if everyone owns a plug-in EV, the electric power system will go to rolling blackouts or crash totally. Many places in this country already cannot handle people turning on their home A/C. If the government gets out of the way, the market will sort this out.

[sabat]

One more thing I'll add Jon - if you get an EV, make sure it can be charged on the Tesla network. Ford, GM, and I think Stellantis have agreements with Tesla to allow charging in the future. The charging infrastructure outside of Tesla is lousy right now. There's big $ going into it, but so far it's unreliable. I have never had a single issue charging on road trips, it's easier than a gas station. Takes about 25 min to charge from 20% to 80%.